US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ANNOUNCES THAT AFRICAN TOURISTS WOULD PAY $15,000 TO VISIT THE US
US President, Donald Trump, on Monday, November 23, issued a new temporary rule stating that tourist and business travelers from 24 countries in Africa could pay as much as $15,000 to visit the United States.
The US State Department said the rule takes effect from December 24 and runs till June 24. It states that the rule targets countries whose citizens have higher rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and B-1 visas for business travelers.
President Trump disclosed that the six-month six-month pilot program aims to test the possibility of collecting such bonds and will serve as a diplomatic deterrence to overstaying the visas.
The visa bond rule will allow U.S. consular officers to require tourist and business travelers from countries whose nationals had an "overstay rate" of 10% or higher in 2019 to pay a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000.
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Twenty-four countries meet that criteria, including 15 African countries. While those nations had higher rates of overstays, they sent relatively few travelers to the United States.
Countries whose tourist and business travelers could be subject to the bond requirement include those from Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Chad, Angola, Burundi, Djibouti and Eritrea. Other countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Iran, Syria, Laos, and Yemen.
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